136 HISTORY OF GEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY. 



gives clear indication of the constructive methods adopted by 

 the great anatomist. We follow him in his attempts to identify 

 the remains of fossil mammalia by comparison with existing 

 mammalian species, and we realise with him the necessity of a 

 thorough examination of the bony skeleton of existing mam- 

 mals before such a comparison can be effected. Cuvier's style 

 is clear and concise, and he has the gift of vivid description. 



Eleven fossil species from the Pleistocene deposits of Europe, 

 Asia, and North America are described in the second volume : 

 a rhinoceros, two hippopotami, two tapirs, an elephant, and 

 five mastodons. With the exception of the mastodons, all the 

 species belong to genera which still exist in the tropics, 

 but the geographical distribution of the Tertiary and the 

 present species is very different. There may be a doubt in 

 the case of the larger hippopotamus species (Hippopotamus 

 major) whether the fossil and the present forms are 

 specifically distinct, but in the other cases there can be no 

 doubt that the forms belong to extinct species. 



Cuvier makes these points clear, and proceeds to show that 



from the condition of the bones they cannot have been 



v transported from any great distance, but that the animals must 



! tiave lived in the localities where their bones are found. Hence 



1 jhese remains afford proof that the temperate zones were, in 



the period immediately antecedent to the present, inhabited 



by a terrestrial fauna whose nearest allies are now confined to 



tropical climates. 



The third volume contains chiefly the description of the 

 vertebrate remains which occur in Upper Eocene gypsiferous 

 marls, in the vicinity of Paris. One or two fossil skeletons 

 were found entire, and most of these remains found in the 

 Paris gypsum beds were in a good state of preservation. But 

 in many localities the mammalian remains occurred in poor 

 preservation, and were irregularly distributed as confused 

 heaps, or beds of bone fragments. It was in arranging such 

 ill-assorted accumulations of bones belonging to different 

 epochs that Cuvier achieved his most astonishing successes, 

 and verified his laws of the correlation of parts. The in- 

 vestigation of certain scattered remains of very frequent 

 occurrence led him to the determination of two extinct genera, 

 Palczotherium and Anoplotherium. After he had ascertained 

 the skull and teeth, Cuvier kept constantly comparing the 

 other bones with those of existing genera tapir, rhinoceros, 



